Well the Cummins is a great motor in any flavor, its the dodge truck around it that will have more issues. Is the motor 12 valve or 24 valve? 1998 was a transition year and the 24V has some issues but the 1998 12V is as close to indestructable as it gets in light duty trucks. It really depends on what you use the truck for. Using a diesel as a grocery getter is hard on them but if you drive longer distances (30 min commutes ect) or tow they are great. Find out if the tranny is a stock rebuild or if it was upgraded. Cummins diesels will tear up the dodge auto trannies pretty quickly (even the gassers do).

That is a great deal on full coverage too. Being a young male full coverage even on my POS truck is expensive.

 

Think most have covered it. if you know the truck and think the value of the parts in it are worth what the insurance company wants and you have time to put it back together get er done.
Dont stay attached to a THING tho. its just a truck and many more are out there, you have to be the judge on what direction benifits you. you insured it after all.
glad no one was hurt.
Doug

 

I think its the 24v so I guess I better find out what kind of problems they have. I will have a hard time paying for repairs so maybe I should keep looking. According to the guy at the shop who did the trans he says it is better then it was before. Supposedly they use better parts then what the truck originally comes with.

It will be used for about a 30 min commute and for pulling a loaded horse trailer and a trailer loaded with hay. I live ontop of a steep mtn and while the 5.9 gas did make it up it was really slow and seemed like it struggled to pull. I only pulled 2 round bales at a time with it. Even with the 2 horse trailer loaded with a 500 pound pony seemed to strain it which is why I thought I would be better off with a diesel.

As for insurance--we do not know how we got a good rate. Even the insurance agents are amazed at our rates--I guess being old has one benefit!

Thanks for the help!

 

Sounds like you can use a diesel. Every 100k or so the 24V Cummins will need a VP44 injection pump at $1500 or so installed. Some pumps last a long time many don't. A performance lift pump (airdog, fass) will help the life considerably. Ask if and when it was replaced. Some (all?) of the 24 valves have what is called a 53 block. Apperently there were sub par blocks being cast and they have a tendancy to crack. Some blocks crack and the owner sees no problems some cause problems. Take a look at Cumminsforum or the cummins section of this forum to find out more like where to look for cracks.

Ask or look for clues on to wether or not the truck had performance parts added. Some performance parts can reduce the life of the cummins (any engine). A more specific forum will give more information.

Towing hay bales up a mountain will tear up the auto tranny on that cummins. A very large tranny cooler and a trans temp gauge will let the tranny last much longer.

Otherwise the only thing that will limit that cummins from pulling bales up that mountain is traction.

O and the Cummins will get 20mpg on the highway. Can't do that with at 5.9L gas.

How do we not have the emotion like this but with the smoke on this forum?

 

Sounds like an awesome truck for you. Mine is a daily driver, and the occasional trailer. I modded the engine a bit, since it's a 12v, and can drive up steep passes in 5th gear with a trailer, no problem. The 24v are still great engines, just they have a computer that controls fuel and such, instead of a mechanical set up.

 

Ok well if I just pull no more then 3 round bales at a time would that still burn it up? That is all that fits on the trailer unless its stacked and I hate for them to stack it so I just make more trips unstacked.

I am really not going to have a lot of money for repairs if I get this truck. With the other truck it was no big deal because it was and had been paid off for a while.

Honestly I do not even know what to look for on performance parts. I can ask them but if they lie I will not know it. I will do a search and look for pics of a cracked block so I might know what to look for. Would the cracked block cause it to run hot?

Now you got me worrying about the truck! LOL

 

If you are serious about buying a Cummins, check out these two places:
http://www.genosgarage.com/
http://www.turbodieselregister.com/info.htm

I personally would junk the '95.

 

With the fresh tranny, just add a large trans coolerm (such as this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BMM-70274/ ) , get a tranny temp gauge and watch it when pushing the truck. As long as you do not overheat the trans it should last a long time. I do not know what the weight of the bales is but a Cummins should have no problem towing 10k or more (at highway speed, up the mountain ). You will be able to tow far more than the 1500 you had.

Cracked block may cause it to run hot but diesels have extreme duty cooling systems so it would have to be really bad to cause an issue. Just look at the stickies and FAQ sections of some of the forums mentioned.

For performance parts look at FAQ's and stickies as mentioned.

I am sorry if I am making you worry. I tend to look at worse case senarios when evaluating things. I just wanted to make you aware of a few issues that may save you money and trouble. More than likely the Cummins will serve you fine for years to come.

 

Ok I will look that up. The 53 block does seem to be on 1999 and 2000 models and this is a 1998. Those bales normally weigh around 1200 pounds each the trailer is 1100 pounds so around 5k in pounds. I dont push it real hard I just sit back and take my time. Fast you can fly up the mtn empty is gonna be at around 45 for most cars but you gotta go slower cuz of the curves.

This truck has been for sale since Sept but it was having trans problems so they just had it rebuilt and put it back up for sale. I guess that is why I am worrying about it! Plus like I said I dont have money for the repairs once I buy it.

So do I have to buy a block heater or does it come with it--I know NOTHING about a diesel.

Thanks for the help

 

My thoughts exactly but hubby is "attached". I hauled off a bunch of cars 2 years ago and I hate the thought of starting another junkyard!